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Elaine Harris
Citizen
Username: Elaineharris
Post Number: 187
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 9:29 pm: | 
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In case you didn't know, the Millburn Mall has not renewed the leases for Tabatchnik's and Sonny's Bakery. Both locations will soon be rented by Staples. Sadly that means the end of an era. If you like old fashioned Jewish style baked goods, like chocolate babka, cheese strudel, bow ties, apple turnovers, rugala, etc. then head over there ASAP because it will be gone for good in about one week. Tabatchnik's has the best lox in the area, and great turkey meatloaf and brisket. |
Sherri De Rose
Citizen
Username: Honeydo
Post Number: 283
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 9:37 pm: |
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I have lived here 22 yrs and can't believe they are closing. Sol at Tabatchniks always had time to talk to me. Rich and I would walk there on Sun mornings to get fish and bagels at Sonny's. Staples has no right being here. It is not rt 10 or 22 or some commercial type area. Who knew about this and could have stopped it?
What a sad sad shame. |
Elaine Harris
Citizen
Username: Elaineharris
Post Number: 188
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 9:51 pm: |
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Yep. I mean, one can always find a Staples. But it takes decades to have a Sonny's or a Tabatchnik's. |
Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 3773
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 10:05 pm: |
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Chocolate Babka ..... heavenly 
 |
Elaine Harris
Citizen
Username: Elaineharris
Post Number: 189
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 10:43 pm: |
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Sorry, that looks like commercial grade. Where did you get that picture from?
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MHD
Citizen
Username: Mayhewdrive
Post Number: 4261
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 10:59 pm: |
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Any chance of luring either of them to South Orange? Lord knows we have PLENTY of vacant space. |
Boomie
Citizen
Username: Boomie
Post Number: 367
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 8:48 am: |
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There is a tabatchnicks on Mountain Ave in Springfield. How does it compare.
Sonnys, God thats a huge loss. |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 226
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 9:19 am: |
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Excuse my ignorance, but to me a bubke is made of a sponge-like mix with a lot of butter in the dough. That looks like my auntie's yeast kugelhopf cake! AND I WANT THE RECIPE! Maybe this is another example of difference between the hemispheres?
My mum's recipe for bubke is butter, SR flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and love. It doesn't fold and stay in layers like this yummy slice, whereas the yeasty layers of a kugelhopf ring, outlined in rich dark chocolate, would. H'm. Pity they won't be around for taste-testing on the so-far-moot 2007 trip from Howlong to Maplewood or SO... |
Dego Diva
Citizen
Username: Fmingione
Post Number: 758
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 10:16 am: |
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When I was at Sonny's last weekend, I mentioned how sad I'll be to see them close, the woman behind the counter told me that they have gotten so much positive feedback from the community about opening elsewhere that they might do it. |
Eats Shoots & Leaves
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 3443
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 10:30 am: |
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I LOVE Tabachniks and Sonny's, and am very sorry to see them go.
BUT.....if there is so much demand for them, they should be able to successfully relocate in the community. The fact that they will not be at the Millburn Mall should not necessarily put them out of business.
I think the bigger problem, at least for Tabachniks, was that it was very marginal economically. I know I do not go there as much as my passion for it would indicate, and I am sure that is the same for many others in our community, let alone those who do not even know about it as it is tucked into one of the worst locations a store can have. Would there be enough support if they were located, say, on South Orange Avenue (with higher rents and more restricted parking)?
Sonny Amsters currently has the South Orange store, but that is very small and will not be able to make up for the lost baking area. I think it will be a lot harder for them to find replacement space, as bakery ovens take up a lot of room, require a large gas line, and the overall returns are pretty low so that all that space is harder to carry.
Sure hope both these places find a new spot in our communities, but they will need to drive a lot of business in to cover higher rents. And probably charge more for their goods. |
papayagirl
Citizen
Username: Papayagirl
Post Number: 578
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 10:37 am: |
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I think both stores have also benefitted from being near to each other, as well as the kosher butcher. It was a destination for lots of regular patrons, and they might not have the same draw once they're split apart. A Tabachniks actually opened up in Edison years ago when i lived there. It only stayed open about a year or two. I bet they learned some lessons about what not to do from that.
And Piast, the polish meats and provisions place, has their entire production facility behind a little storefront on Springfield Ave that you'd never know about when you pass by. (Now that they've redone their storefront, they also just put up a sign that says Hot & Cold Sandwiches Now Available, btw.) So there are probably lots of spots like that that would work out for Sonny's... if they're willing to put the $ into outfitting it. |
jem
Citizen
Username: Jem
Post Number: 1578
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 10:40 am: |
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I would love to see Sonny's and Tabatchniks both relocate to Springfield Ave. near each other. The synergy would be great. I wonder if there are spots that would be appropriate in the new building that's going up across from the library? |
Eats Shoots & Leaves
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 3444
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 11:12 am: |
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You know, I wonder if there are any real estate brokers lurking on this thread--great time to match a now-needy retailer with an empty storefront and make a commission. |
Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 2273
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 11:27 am: |
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I spoke to Tbatchniks about moving to Springfield Ave, and the guy at the cash register said the owner can't find an appropriate space. I think they need it be somewhat large and cheap. He seemed extremely CERTAIN that the place was closing for good. I hope he's wrong. That space is very large, but I don't get the sense that they are using all of the space they have. |
jem
Citizen
Username: Jem
Post Number: 1579
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 12:11 pm: |
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I agree that they're not using all their space. I also agree that they'd be sunk if they had to pay premium rent. There has just GOT to be some way to keep that business going. It's just too depressing to think of life without their whitefish salad and even more depressing without their herring in cream sauce.  |
The3ofUs
Citizen
Username: The3ofus
Post Number: 13
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 12:27 pm: |
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I hope, if they move, they make a cleaner-looking, more inviting environment to shop in because sometimes I'm just grossed out when I go in there or Sonny's. |
Elaine Harris
Citizen
Username: Elaineharris
Post Number: 190
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 12:36 pm: |
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Seymour Tabatchnick is almost 95 and he still works every day and is still engaged in looking for new business ventures!!! He has been working on a project to deliver fresh sandwiches to office buildings in New York. They just don't make them like him anymore! He is too precious to lose. Read Dego Diva's post, above. Maybe if all of us paid a visit to the stores and begged them to find another location, maybe we could give them the courage to do it. Meanwhile, I am definitely going to have a brisket on rye for lunch today, hopefully. And I am going to polish it off with something from Sonny's. |
Elaine Harris
Citizen
Username: Elaineharris
Post Number: 191
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 12:47 pm: |
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To The3ofUS: Forgive me for saying this, (which I fear you won't) but only yuppies get "grossed out." There is nothing wrong with places that are old and worn. They have a certain "patina" that can never be replaced. We all know they are not going to be here forever, we just didn't expect that they would be forced out before they were ready to close. I feel especially sorry for their employees.
I am tired of this "over sterilization" concept. I just witnessed the most unbelievably bad "renovation" in the Hamptons where an old farmhouse restaurant was "sanitized" beyond recognition thereby losing all of its charm. I doubt that it will last in business for more than the summer.
I can cite to local examples of this, but that would not be fair of me to do.
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The3ofUs
Citizen
Username: The3ofus
Post Number: 14
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 1:18 pm: |
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Elaine, I don't agree with you about only yuppies getting "grossed out" but I still forgive you because your heart is in the right place. BUT, I am not a yuppie and hoping for a cleaner-looking, more inviting environment to shop in is
not the same as hoping for "sanitization beyond recognition". I guess you don't get "grossed out" by your brisket sandwich being made on the half-cleaned sandwich board smeared with liverwurst. I've gotten all kinds of things included in my pastrami sandwiches.
I agree with you on your assessment of places that are old and worn having a certain "patina". BUT come on, I guarantee you that both of those places NEVER were attractive because a patina on something attractive is beautiful whereas a "patina" on something unattractive renders it JUNK. The food is great, but the ambiance is terrible.
Obviously, I get beyond the ambiance when I am in the mood for the Millburn Mall but there is nothing wrong with hoping, IF THEY REOPEN, that they give the place a fresh, clean look. |
Elaine Harris
Citizen
Username: Elaineharris
Post Number: 192
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 1:29 pm: |
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ok, when I go there today I will ask him to please wipe the knife on his shirt before he makes my sandwich just to make sure all the liverwurst is off. (Just kidding.) |
The3ofUs
Citizen
Username: The3ofus
Post Number: 16
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 1:35 pm: |
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campbell29
Citizen
Username: Campbell29
Post Number: 489
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 2:15 pm: |
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Cait and Abbey's has good chocolate bobke's (and I think they are kosher as well). I don't know if they are only there on special occasions or a daily item, but my husband sometimes picks them up on the way home from work. |
The3ofUs
Citizen
Username: The3ofus
Post Number: 17
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 2:16 pm: |
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Uh oh, yuppie-alert, Elaine ! |
canismajor
Citizen
Username: Canismajor
Post Number: 426
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 3:51 pm: |
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Maybe it's just me but I don't think Sonny Amster's is that great. It was never my first choice-I always used to go to Kevin's Suburban Bake Shop in Millburn before it closed. To me, Sonny's stuff is pretty bland and uninspired. I will only go there when I don't have enough time to go to Natale's in Summit of Menger's in Union.
That being said, I'm sad to see it go because my grandmother used to take me there for Cookie Monster cupcakes when I was little, and it's one more piece of my MW-area childhood gone by the wayside. |
Starr
Citizen
Username: Starr
Post Number: 136
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 12:22 pm: |
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The3ofUs -- I agree with you about both stores. There's too much competition these days for stores to stay stuck in the past like that. The same is true of Sonny's Bagels on S. Orange Avenue. It wouldn't take much money to give that small storefront a new updated look. The bagels are great but it's hardly inviting. |
Joel Janney
Citizen
Username: Joel_janney
Post Number: 60
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 1:06 pm: |
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Agreed also. The Mall locations in particular have had to deal with both a poor location as well as the run-down, uninviting interiors and exteriors. Still, the food is absolutely top-notch. If Sonny's reopened in a visible, just reasonable looking location with bagels and the baked goods, I can't imagine them not increasing their sales significantly. But it's easy for me to say, it's not my money at risk.
Canismajor - I think some of their cupcakes and such are blah, but their babkas and bagels are great and their breads and cookies are very good. |
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 2471
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 1:32 pm: |
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My parents (both from Brooklyn) make it a point to stop at Sonny's to pick up boxes of danish that they cannot get in upstate NY. They swear its as good as the Jewish bakeries they went to as kids. In fact they usually stock up and freeze it when they get home as they believe that frozen pastries are better than what they can get near their home. They were dismayed when I informed them that the store was closing. I hope they do find somewhere else to go.
Also, the bagel shop in SO is fantastic - the only real bagels in the area.
I hope the bakery finds a new place nearby. |
Richard Kessler
Citizen
Username: Richiekess
Post Number: 147
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 11:19 am: |
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I think it's a very sad thing to lose these two old school shops--particularly for a Staples, of which there are numerous located relatively nearby. There are a number of things at Sonny's which are fantastic: the babka, the cookies (particularly the chocolate covered Oreos--which are AMAZING), the excellent array breads, and they even make a homemade style apple pie during the apple season. And I believe the bagels there, which are baked fresh in So Orange, are among the very best I have ever had. Tabatchnick's has certain things, like the Empire National hot dogs, which the Times (and my friends and family) recognized as being the very best. The pickles, kashe varniskes, sandwiches. With the loss of Tabatchnick's, you'll have to go to Manhattan, to Barney Greengrass, Murray's, Russ and Daughters, or Zabar's, to get many of these things. If you're into Jewish food, then this is a huge loss. If not, I guess you won't really care. Even though the stores were wildly idiosyncratic and not the most appealing in terms of decor, these were real old school shops, with unique fare that I cannot imagine will be replaced anytime soon. Try and get a challah or raisin pumpernickle or even white bread as good as what Sonny's offers--you won't find it at the other local bakeries. |
jem
Citizen
Username: Jem
Post Number: 1580
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 11:38 am: |
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I stopped by Tabatchnik's yesterday, asked one of the guys behind the counter if they might consider a different location. He seemed to think that there just was no appropriate location and that they would be closed in about 2 weeks.
I am devastated. No one makes herring in cream sauce like theirs.  |
Joel Janney
Citizen
Username: Joel_janney
Post Number: 62
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 11:42 am: |
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Dego Diva mentioned that Sonny's might look into reopening. Has anyone heard anything else? |
catmanjac
Citizen
Username: Catmanjac
Post Number: 307
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 2:11 pm: |
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We had "The Famous" on South Orange Ave for so long, and it closed many years ago. It used to be a hot spot for a good corned beef sandwich and so on, but the times were changing... I think it was owned by Al from "The Claremont".
As for bakeries, so many have closed. Remember "Peters" in Maplewood Village? How about "Silvers" on Sloan St (originally from Newark...RIP Perle Silver Parr and her parents) in S.O.? Ramosers (sp?) on the corner of S.O.Ave/Vose Ave? "The New Garden" on Irvington Ave in Maplewood? And "Don's"-- both the restaurant, take out shop, and bakery? |
BGS
Supporter
Username: Bgs
Post Number: 1097
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, June 25, 2006 - 6:06 am: |
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I stopped at Tabatchniks Friday night to pick up one last dinner for two for old times sake and the older gentleman whose name I do not know said that they would be around for a couple of more weeks...(That being said, two men were washing down the cutting boards and washing the floor as we were talking...I never saw this place dirty....just old).
I told him that they should move to Springfield Avenue and he said find me a place...so, does anyone out there know of a place for rent that would accomodate this business????? If so, let them know.
Ciao,
Barbara |
Wendy
Supporter
Username: Wendy
Post Number: 2645
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, June 25, 2006 - 10:09 pm: |
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I would think that if Tabachnicks really wants to remain in business then they would find themselves a place and not challenge you to do so. That said I will be quite sad to see them go if they do not find themselves a new location. There are plenty of opportunities both on Springfield Ave. in Maplewood and, I'm sure, in South Orange in one of the many empty stores there.
On the other hand, I will not be sad to see Sonny Amster's go. While I frequent Sonny's in South Orange for their bagels, I have never met more rude owners/workers than those at Sonny Amster's. Perhaps since I don't have that big a sweet tooth, I am unable to overlook this rudeness. I wish them well but I won't miss them. Plenty of other bakeries abound who appreciate me walking in their door. |
Richard Kessler
Citizen
Username: Richiekess
Post Number: 149
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 26, 2006 - 8:33 pm: |
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Well, they guys at Tabatchnick's are not exactly spring chickens. As for Sonny's, the staff is pretty wacky, although there are some nice people working there. Again, you can go to plenty of other bakeries, but what they have at Sonny's, things like poppy seed strudel, marble cake sponge cake, really classic pecan rings, and GREAT breads, are hard to find elsewhere. |
Janet Gerber
Citizen
Username: Janetg
Post Number: 15
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 10:31 pm: |
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Speaking of Sonny Amster... what happened to Sonny's Bagels in South Orange????? |
susan1014
Supporter
Username: Susan1014
Post Number: 1699
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 10:46 pm: |
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See thread in South Orange section...(said to be pilot light problem, gas explosion, injury, difficulty getting lease terms that make it worth reopening at that site...ugly story all around for those of us who love their bagels) |
BGS
Supporter
Username: Bgs
Post Number: 1156
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 4:02 pm: |
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This was in NJ Biz today:
Time remembered
Millburn Mall takes a pass on age-old Jewish establishments
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BY JOSH LEVINE
For the Star-Ledger
Once upon a time not too long ago, the streets of Newark were awash in pickled herring, Nova lox, pastrami, half-sour pickles. They brimmed with over-sized loaves of peasant rye bread, bagels and fresh pastries.
Well, practically. In the 1930s and for 30 years after, Newark's Weequahic section served as a cultural hub for more than 70,000 Jews who migrated from Eastern Europe and brought their tastes with them, prompting a collection delis and bakeries to meet their food demands.
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Deli from Tabatchnick's, Bragman's and Teitlebaum's; baked goods from Silver's and Watson's; meals at Syd's, the Tavern, and others, each with its own specialty, had through the years been woven into the fabric of Newark's past.
By the late 1960s, most of those shops' original customers left the changing city, and the shops went with them. The riots and the inevitable westward push that has defined this country contributed to the migration.
But bits of Weequahic's culinary fabric could still be found close enough that, for many old-time Newarkers, a sublime slab of ruggelah, or a side of belly lox, just smoked, has remained a short drive away.
So it was with a sense of loss both to history and finely-honed appetites that visitors in mid-July returned to two of these old school businesses for what may be their last time: Tabatchnick's Deli and Sonny Amster's Bakery.
If Millburn Mall, with its '60s era architecture, is the mall that time forgot, then it just remembered.
Workers are already converting the 1962-era structure into a modern strip mall with a Staples Superstore as the anchor, due to open in September. While several businesses, such as Maple Kosher and the liquor store, will remain, two of its most beloved, Sonny Amster's Bakery and Tabatchnick's Delicatessen, are closed, or will be shortly.
"It's simple business, our leases were up and they doubled the rent," said Sonny Amster, 77, who owned and operated Sonny Amster's Bakery for 25 years, after co-owning Watson's Bagels in Newark, then Irvington, for 30 years before that. He bought the bakery in 1982 when it was known as Wigler's. He also explained that business was hurt by nearly three years of bridge construction, recently completed, which kept Millburn customers from the mall.
Several customers standing on line didn't know of the imminent closings, and expressed sadness upon hearing of it. South Orange resident Wilma Van Depole said she was a regular customer for three years, since discovering the Russian rye. Before this, she said, she made it herself. Her 3-year-old daughter Vera stood in the center of the old-fashioned bakery, rhapsodically chewing a large cookie glazed with dark chocolate.
The son of a Newark bagel maker, Amster bought the Watson's Bagel business on Clinton Place in Weequahic in 1957 and moved it to Chancellor Avenue in Irvington in 1967. The 1947 Newark South Side High graduate continues to operate Elmora Bagels in Elizabeth and Sonny's Bagel's in South Orange. His son also runs a chain of the Bagels-4-U stores, the direct descendants of the legendary Watson Bagels.
However, birthday cakes and Jewish-style baked goods appear to be a thing of the past from Sonny's enterprises once this location closes -- except that next to the cash register on the counter is a notebook on which customers are prompted to write their contact information, for "when" Sonny finds a new location. Workers there seem hopeful.
The notebook and ever-changing departure dates of this store and others contribute to an air of rumor that is hanging about the Millburn Mall.
And apparently fighting the passing of an era by sheer will is 85-year-old Seymour Tabatchnick, proprietor of Tabatchick's deli that was started by his grandfather in Newark in 1895 and closed with little ceremony on July 7.
On a recent visit there, Tabatchnick showed off his fish smokeroom, which he calls New Jersey's last. The trim deli owner is known for selling smoked fish, knishes, and smoked meat sandwiches -- and for selling them with grace and style.
"That hot dog, we only make for Seymour, it's a tribute to him. Oversized. He came in and convinced me to stop the production line each week and make them special," said Eddie Weinberg, owner of Empire National in Brooklyn. "Now you can't get them." Weinberg said he hopes this customer resurfaces in the restaurant business, since "I know I'll talk to him at least once a week and I don't want to lose that opportunity."
"I'm a big admirer of the guy," Weinberg said. "In his mid-80s, juices are still flowing and he's always creating, never stops, you can listen all night to his stories and never say a word."
In fact, a recent visitor to the store braced for a grim passing of a man's dreams instead found him hunched over at a corner table, phone pressed hard against one ear as a workman dismantled a vent from the wall. After 10 minutes of what appeared to be like negotiation, he hung up. "Ya know our SloppyJoes -- pastrami and cole slaw? I'm trying to get (an airline) to serve them," he confided, with a sideways grin.
Apparently he is trying to sell as many of those sandwiches as possible, since he is also setting up a company specializing in delivering them to offices in Manhattan and New Jersey. He also recently leased a facility in Millington to produce knishes to be sold in Wegman's and Costcos.
Staying put is Syd's, an institution on two counts. First, the grill restaurant, there since 1967, is another former Weequahic landmark, one that played host to countless dates and stories recounting them.
On a recent visit, a 1957 Weequahic graduate told Syd's current owner, Eric Niederman, that she ate Syd's food as a little girl, but her father would not let her eat at the counter because the conversations going on were 'too raunchy," she said.
But Terri Niederman, Eric's mother, said she grew up with Syd's too, and took vehement exception. But just then, her son appeared with a photocopy of some passages from a magazine essay by Philip Roth, where here calls sitting around in Syd's, jawing about, well, sex. The celebrated novelist happened to graduate from Weequahic High School in 1950 -- precisely when the visitor was a little girl. Terri Niederman only smiled then. What could she say?
Her son, 27-year-old Eric Niederman, bought Syd's three years ago and vows that the hot dogs, French fries and soups will never change.
His reverence for these menu items derives from Syd's second claim to fame -- one of the mandatory stops for the curiously popular Jersey Hot Dog tour, conducted by numerous road food groups who rent buses for this occasion. (Others include Rutt's Hut in Clifton, Texas Wiener in Plainfield, Charlies Famous of Kenilworth, and Dickiee Dees of Newark.)
So. Do folks still wander in eager to bend Niederman's ear with stories of Syd's Newark days? He smiled. "If I had a nickel for every time I hear the word 'Weequahic,'" he said. He smiles again when reminded that indeed, he does.
For four decades Millburn Mall has retained a swath of culture and nostalgia for a community that has all but slipped away, with the inevitable passage of time and changed demography of what had once been Newark's Jewish center.
It is ironic, then, that among those noting the closure of two of Newark's last family-owned landmarks is Larry Reisner, 49, who runs Bragman's Deli, the one that remained in Weequahic since the 1930s. His father, Charlie, bought the business in 1951 and ran it until he died in 1995, said Reisner. "These guys are two of the last of the originals, so it's the passing of an era," Reisner said in a telephone interview.
His mother Janice, who lives in Union as does her son, worked alongside her husband running Bragman's and decided to roll with the changes over the years. For example, she said they still offered complete holiday dinners for Jewish customers, including chopped liver, chicken soup with matzoh balls, brisket, kugel, tsimmes. But they also added foods that appealed to the African/American families who replaced many of the Jewish ones, such as greens and mashed potatoes.
"Everybody left," she said. "Why did we stay? We were busy. My husband had a fantastic rapport with everybody, so it just worked out that way. And we never changed the quality of the meat, unlike other places, so there are great customers and a good business still."
While she matter-of-factly attributed their remaining in Weequahic even after the 1967 Newark riots "because it made good business sense, since the customers kept coming and we owned the building," she seemed proud of Bragman's role in today's Weequahic, too.
Everybody loved Charlie (her husband), from the Jews to the Black Muslims," she said. "When he died, the (Congregational) church on Burnett Avenue in Unionheld amemorial service for him."
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